International Criminal Court hit with "sophisticated" cyberattack

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday said it was hit by a “sophisticated and targeted” cyberattack, but that it has since contained the damage.

The “new, sophisticated and targeted cyber security incident” took place “late last week,” the ICC said in a statement posted on its website on Monday.

According to the international court, in-house “alert and response mechanisms swiftly discovered, confirmed, and contained” the incident before any substantial damage was done to its network systems.

“A Court-wide impact analysis is being carried out, and steps are already being taken to mitigate any effects of the incident,” the ICC said.

#ICC detects and contains new sophisticated cyber security incident ⤵️ https://t.co/t5AkO46I4u

undefined Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) June 30, 2025

The ICC is an international tribunal based in The Hague in the Netherlands. It was established in 2002 to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity under international law.

Second targeted attack on international court

In recent months, the ICC has been under increased scrutiny since it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict, according to Reuters.

It's also not the first time the judicial body had experienced a major cyber intrusion.

In September 2023, the ICC announced attackers had breached its systems in an “unprecedented” act of espionage, calling it a “serious attempt to undermine the Court’s mandate.”

After the days-long attack, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan also warned against future ICC cyberattacks and said more security measures needed to be put in place to protect the organization's data.

To note, the ICC has never revealed what data may have been accessed in the 2023 attack, nor where the attack originated from, including if those details were ever discovered.

Linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2023, that year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of illegally deporting children from Ukraine.

Additionally, the intergovernmental tribunal was investigating possible Russian war atrocities in Georgia.

In response, Russia, which does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction, issued arrest warrants against senior ICC judges at the time.

Last June, the ICC said it was also considering whether or not to investigate Russian cyberattacks carried out on the Ukrainian population as possible war crimes.

In one of the first major cyber warfare operations, Russian hackers turned off the heating to over 600 apartment buildings in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, leaving residents in freezing temperatures for several days last January.

And this spring, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) said it had uncovered several operations conducted by Russian hackers in the Netherlands last year.

Neither Russia nor Israel are members of the court.

The ICC said informing the public and its States Parties about any such cyber incidents and the efforts taken to address them is essential for continued support and ensures the Court’s capacity to implement its critical mandate of justice and accountability.